Counting device



Apr 16, 1968 R. GUDMESTAD COUNTING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheety l Filed March 7, 1967 i o ae 50 IlIIlllllllllllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlllllllllllfv w as of TM 0 v oq Z d 40 me Y W M .|T T. @w i-! 6 n d Y y e Y Z B /lm e d mi# ATTOENEY April 16, 1968 R. GUDMESTAD 3,378,196

COUNTI NG DEVI CE Filed March 7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 d///O i0 INVENI'OZ o @n @vez 60o/ws sra@ F .7 BY aawwnh /00 ATTO iz N EVS United States Patent O 3,378,196 COUNTING DEVICE Ragnar Gudmestad, West Allis, Wis., assignor to Artes Engineering Company, New Berlin, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Mar. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 621,347 15 Claims. (Cl. 23S-132) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates generally to improvements in counting devices, and relates more particularly to the provision of an improved device especially adapted to count a preselected number of machine operations or the like.

Background of the invention In the production of diverse items by various types of machinery, automation 0f the operations is, of course, highly desirable. Accordingly, to minimize the amount of human attention required in these machinery operations, it has been heretofore proposed to provide devices, for example, which are adapted to be set to count a preselected number of operations. Devices of this general type have also been proposed which are adapted to either signal a warning or arrest further operations or both when the preselected number has been reached. These counting -devices have also either been electrically or mechanically actuated.

While some of these prior counters have generally accomplished their intended purposes in a satisfactory manner and have enjoyed varying degrees of commercial success, they lhave nevertheless not possessed all of the desirable attributes for one reason or another. For example, in most instances, heretofore available counters have been relatively complicated in construction with numerous mechanical parts or sensitive electrical components.

Accordingly, production and assembly of parts has been time consuming and costly. In addition to the initial expense of these devices, they havev generally required considerable care in handling, packaging, shipment and installation as well as in the operation thereof. The relatively complicated nature of prior devices has also undesirably restricted their utility in some instances, and operational wear has resulted in need for excessive maintenance and objectionable shutdowns for repair and replacement of parts.

Summary of Ike invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved counting device which is extremely simple and compact in construction, and which is moreover highly efficient in operation.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mechanical counter whic-h is constructed of exceedingly few parts and which may be readily assembled and/or dismantled by relatively unskilled personnel in a rapid manner.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive mechanical counter of rugged construction which is extremely flexible in its adaptations to various types of machine operations, and which generally obviates the objections and disadvantages attendant prior apparatus of this general type.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device for counting a selected number of machine operations comprising, an elongated flexible element formed with a longitudinal series of beads, means forming an arcuate path of travel for the elongated element, and means responsive to the machine operations to be 3,378,196 Patented Apr. 16, 1968 counted reciprocable tangentially of the arcuate path and cooperable with the successive beads of the elongated element to advance the same along the arcuate path.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description.

The drawings Referring to the drawings -acornpanying and forming a part of the present specification:

FIGURE 1 is a top view of a typical counter embodying the features of the present invention and showing the same applied to a fragment of a supporting structure;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the counter taken along the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1 and showing the several parts positioned for normal operation; l

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the counting device;

FIGURE 4 is an end view of the device taken in the direction shown by the arrows 4 4 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is another longitudinal vertical section like that of FIGURE 2 but showing the parts in their relative positions at the end of a preselected count of machine operations; I

FIGURE 6 is a transverse vertical section through the counter taken along the line 6 6 of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary end view taken in the direction of the arrows 7 7 of FIGURE 5.

Detailed description The counter shown in the drawings as embodying the invention includes a housing 10 attachable to a support 12 which is usually a convenient portion of the frame of a machine, the operations of which are to be counted. The housing '10 may be of any desired shape, and for purposes of illustration, is shown herein as being rectangular in both horizontal and vertical planes. The housing may be formed of metal, plastic or other suitable material, and may be secured to the machine frame in any convenient manner and any desired locality.

Rotatably mounted within the annular space 14 formed in the housing 10 is a sheave or sprocket 16 having a hub 18 exposed outwardly of the recess or space i4. The sprocket 16 may be conveniently mounted and journalled for rotation on the medial portion 22 of a machine screw or the like having a head 24 and a reduced inner end portion 26 threaded within a bore in the rear wall of the housing It). A washer 28 is preferably interposed between the sheave 16 and the adjacent inner surface of the housing wall to space the sheave from the wall.

The outwardly exposed hub 1S of the sheave has a dial 30 mounted thereon for rotation with the sheave 16, the dial being glued, keyed or otherwise suitably secured to the hub 18. The face of the dial 30 is provided with suitable indicia 33 as shown which is cooperable with a pointer 34 or the like on the outer face of the housing ltl to provide a visual indication of count as will hereinafter more fully appear. The dial 39 is also preferably recessed about its circumference in an annular outwardly open groove 36 surrounding the recess or space 14 and thus substantially closes the space 14 and conceals the sheave 16.

An elongated flexible element 3S formed with a longitudinal series of spaced beads 40 traverses the sheave or sprocket 16, the grooved periphery of which is spaced from the arcuate inner wall 42 of the recess 14 and cooperates therewith to provide an arcuate path of travel for the elongated element 38. The ends of the elongated beaded element or chain 38 are permitted to hang by gravity, and depend in spaced relation through vertical, downward open passageways 44, 46 formed in the housing 10 and tangentially connected with the arcuate path formed between the periphery of the sheave 16 and recess wall 42. One of '3 the depending ends of the beaded chain 38 is also provided with an abutment member 48 in the nature of a somewhat enlarged bead for purposes hereinafter described, and one or both ends of the chain 38 may also 'be formed with a linger grip 50.

As stated, the chain 38 traverses the sheave 16, and means is preferably provided for constantly resiliently urging at least a portion of the chain toward the sheave periphery to positively seat the chain within the groove of the sheave and insure that the chain or elongated element 38 will cause rotation of the sheave 16 as the element 38 is advanced. In the embodiment shown, the means thus provided comprises a ball 52 held captive within a laterally extending aperture 54 formed in the housing 10. The ball 52 is retained in aperture 54 by a cap screw 56 and is constantly Vresiliently urged toward and against the flexible element 38 by a spring S8, the force of which may be adjusted by the screw 56. Thus, the spring pressed ball 52 maintains the chain 33 in contact with the sprocket 16, and is moreover resiliently seated between successive balls 40 to permit movement of the chain or elongated element 38 in increments corresponding to the spacing between adjacent balls 40 while also insuring corresponding movement of the sheave or sprocket 16 and the dial 3G carried thereby.

Means is also provided which is responsive to the machine operations or the like to be counted for contacting the successive beads and advancing the same along the arcuate path. As shown, such means comprises a plunger 60 mounted for reciprocation in a bore 62 extending longitudinally through the housing tangentially of and intersecting the arcuate path formed between the periphery of the sheave 16 and the wall 42. The plunger 60 is resiliently urged to the left, as viewed in FGURES 2 and 5, by a return spring 64 compressed between the shoulder of a counterbore 66 and a head da formed on the plunger 66. The plunger 60 also has a groove or recess 70 formed therein adjacent the intersection of the path of travel of the beads, and secured within the groove 70 is a leaf spring 72 which may be attached to the plunger in any suitable manner as by means of a screw 74. The leaf spring 72 has its free end bent outwardly toward the arcuate path of travel of the beads and is aadpted to be projected into such path upon sliding movement of the plunger 60 in opposition to the y'return spring 64. Thus, movement of the plunger 6? to the right in response to a machine operation causes the free end of the leaf spring '72 to engage one of the beads 40, and further movement of the plunger advances the elongated element 38 by a single increment. When the plunger 60 has reached the end of its stroke, it is returned automatically by the spring 64 for the start of another counting operation, and the beads 40 and flexible element 38 are thus advanced by successive increments as the successive beads are advanced by the spring 72. To retain the plunger in proper position with the recess 70 and spring 72 facing the beads 4t) and the arcuate path of travel thereof, the plunger 60 may also be provided with a hat lower surface 76, and a pin '78 may be extended transversely through the housing across the lower portion of the Ibore 62 so as to co-act with the flat surface 76. This pin 78 acts as a bearing surface for the downwardly bent leaf of the spring 72 upon each stroke of the plunger, and causes the spring to be raised upwardly away from the path of the beads 4d whenever hte plunger 60 is returned to starting position while permitting the spring to deflect downwardly into positive engagement with the successive beads upon each forward stroke of the plunger.

The plunger 60 may be moved in its forward or beadactuating stroke in any suitable manner, and in the embodiment shown the plunger is provided with a pin 80 extending vertically therethrough adjacent one end to a point above the housing 10. Co-acting with this pin 80 is a lever 82 pivotally mounted at its medial portion as by means of a pin or pivot screw 84 and having the free end thereof bifurcated as at 86 with the bifurcations engaging opposite sides of the pin 80. The other arm S8 of the lever 82 extends into the path of movement of a pin or some other suitable element 90 which is movable in respouse to machine operations, and this pin 90 engages a cam surface 92 of the lever arm 8S to swing the lever by a predetermined amount upon the performance of each machine operation. The lever is thus swung about its pivot 84 in response to successive machine operations and thus advances the plunger to a predetermined extent. In turn, the lower end of the pin 30 rides along the upper surface of a leaf spring latch 94 and in normal reciprocating movement of the plunger d@ responsive to machine operation as described, the lower end of pin is retained on the upper bearing surface of the leaf spring latch 94, as shown in phantom in FIGURE 2. However, upon advancement of the plunger at) beyond its normal stroke as will be hereinafter described, the pin 30 will be moved beyond the latch @4 and will permit the spring leaf 96 to spring upwardly and thus prevent return movement of the plunger 60 by the return spring d4 as shown in FIG- URES 5 and 7, thus rendering the device inoperative. For compactness, the housing 16 is provided with a slot or Way 93 within which the pin 80 is movable to a limited extent, and the spring latch 94 is mounted within a recess lut) formed in the housing below the slot 98.

Thus, as machine operations are performed, the successive operations are transmitted by the pin to the lever arm 83 and through the lever arm 82 to the plunger 60 and then through the spring 72 to the successive beads 40 to advance the elongated element 38 by successive increments, and means are furthermore provided herein for indicating the number of beads advanced in response to the machine operations. F or this purpose, the median portion of a generally L-shaped lever 1%2 is mounted for rotation on an extension. 194 of the reduced portion 26 of the pivot pin 20. One leg 106 of the lever 102 has a bifurcated portion 163 extending across the path of movement of that end of the chain 3S which contains the abutment member 4S, the beads 40 of the chain 38 being adapted to pass freely through the bifurcation. The other leg of the lever 102 extends upwardly to a point above the housing 10 and is adapted to perform the function of signalling a warning and/ or stopping further machine operations upon reaching the pre-selected count. For this purpose, a switch, clutch, or similar element 116 is located adjacent to the upwardly projecting portion of the lever arm 116 in the path of its swinging movement and when the chain 38 is advanced by the plunger du and spring 72 through coaction with the beads 40 by a predetermined chamber of increments, the abutment member 48 contacts the spaced legs of the bifurcated element 108 of the lever arm 106 and the lever 102 is swung in a clockwise direction as shown in FIGURE 5. This swinging movement causes the leg 110 of the lever to contact and actuate the switch lever 116 to thereby stop the machine, signal a warning, or perform some other similar function to indicate that the preselected count has been reached.

An upper slide element 112 is suitably mounted as in a recess 114 on the upper portion of the housing 10 and has a notch which receives the lever 110. In its inactive position, one end of the slide 112 terminates at the inner end of the slot or way 98 within which the pin 80 is movable. Thus, in normal operation of the device, the

/slide 112 does not interfere with reciprocable movement of the pin 80. However, when the lever 110 is moved clockwise by the abutment 48 as described, the slide 112 is moved to the right by the lever as viewed in the drawings. The end 0f the slide thus holds the pin Sil in the full line position as shown in FIGURE 5 and prevents plunger 60 from returning until the counter is reset by pulling down on grip 50 of the chain 38 to rotate dial 30 and sheave 16 counterclockwise to the selected setting.

To render the counter inoperative, the plunger 65) is manually moved to the extreme right by pushing on end head 68. This moves the pin 80 olf of the leaf spring 96 of latch 94 as shown in broken lines in FIGURE 5, and the spring 96 is permitted to spring upwardly into contact with the side of the pin 80 (see FIGURE 7). To then reactivate the device for operation, it is necessary to manually lower the leaf 96 of the spring latch 94 suiciently to permit the pin 80 to clear the same so that the plunger 60 may be returned to its starting stroke.

In operation, the dial may be rotated counterclockwise to a selected number of counts as determined by the indicia 33 on the dial 30 and the indicating arrow 34. This sets the device for a preselected number of counts, and the dial may be thus set either by directly rotating the dial counterclockwise or by pulling down on the chain 38 by means of the nger gripping portion 50 until the indicator is at the desired setting. When the machine 12 is operated, the successive operations thereof are transmitted to the pin 90 which in turn actuates the lever arm 88. These operations are then transmitted to the plunger 60 through lever arm 82 and pin 80, and upon each forward movement of the plunger, the free end of the spring 72 coacts with one of the beads 40 to advance the chain 38 by successive increments dependent upon machine operation. As these operations are continued, the abutment member 48 is carried upwardly through the passageway 44 and into contact with the bifurcated portion 108 of the lever arm 106. Further advancement of the chain 38 causes the abutment member 48 to swing the lever 102 clockwise and causes the swinging lever arm 110 to actuate the switch or other indicating or warning element 116 to thereby stop further operation of the machine, signal a warning, or the like. The preselected number of machine operations are thus electively counted, and the device may be subsequently reset merely by resetting the dial and chain 38. The device may, of course, be rendered inoperative as above described. It should be understood that the device may be modified to meet various requirements Without departing from the invention, and positive movement of the chain 38 by the rotatable member 16, and vice Versa, is attainable by forming the member 16 as a sprocket with similarly spaced detents 120 in its peripheral groove.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the following claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

I claim:

1. A device for counting a selected number of machine operations comprising, an elongated flexible element formed with a longitudinal series of beads, means including a rotatable sheave forming an arcuate path of travel for said elongated element, and means responsive to the machine operations to be counted reciprocable tangentially of said arcuate path and cooperable with the successive beads of said elongated element to advance the same along said path.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein means responsive to movement offthe elongated element is provided to indicate the number of beads advanced in response to the machine operations.

3. A device according to claim 1, wherein means is provided for constantly resiliently urging at least a portion of the elongated element toward the periphery of the sheave.

4. A device according to claim 1, wherein an indicating dial is mounted for rotation with the sheave to provide a visual indication of the number of beads advanced.

5. A device for counting a selected number of machine operations comprising, an elongated eXible element formed with a longitudinal series of beads, means forming an arcuate path of travel for said elongated element, means responsive to the machine operations to be counted reciprocble tangentially of said arcuate path and cooperable with the successive beads of said elongated element to advance the same along said path, and means responsive to movement of said elongated element to interrupt the machine operations upon movement of said elongated element through'a preselected number of bead advancement increments.

6. A device according to claim 5, wherein the means responsive to movement of the elongated element for interrupting the machine operations includes a lever actuatable by said elongated element.

7. A device according to claim 6, wherein a slide member is provided which is operable by the lever to arrest reciprocable movement ot the bead advancing means.

8. A device according to claim 5, wherein the means responsive to movement of the elongated element for interrupting the machine operations includes an abutment member on the elongated element and means responsive to movement of said abutment member.

9. A device according to claim 8, wherein the means responsive to movement of the abutment member includes a lever having an actuating portion disposed in the path of advancement of the abutment member.

10. A device according to claim 9, wherein the lever has another portion cooperable with means for stopping the machine operations.

11. A device for counting a selected number of machine operations comprising, an elongated exible element formed with a longitudinal series of beads, means forming an arcuate path of travel for said elongated element, means responsive to the machine operations to be counted reciprocable tangentially of said arcuate path and cooperable with the successive beads of said elongated element to advance the same along said path, and means for arresting reciprocable movement of said bead advancing means to render the device inoperative.

12. A device according to claim 11, wherein the means for rendering the device inoperative includes a spring latch operable to inactivate the bead advancing means.

13. A device for counting a selected number of machine operations comprising, an elongated ilexible element formed with a longitudinal series of beads, means forming an arcuate path of travel for said elongated element, a plunger responsive to the machine operations to be counted reciprocable tangentially of said arcuate path, said plunger intersecting the arcuate path of travel of said elongated element and having a recess therein adjacent the intersection of said path, and a leaf spring mounted in the recess of said plunger and cooperable with the successive beads of said elongated element upon reciprocation of said plunger to advance said elongated element along said path.

14. A device according to claim 13, wherein means is provided for deecting the spring upwardly away from the arcuate path and into the plunger recess upon each return stroke of the plunger to starting position.

15. A device according to claim 13, wherein the plunger is moved in its bead advancing direction by a lever responsive to machine operation and is returned to its starting position by spring means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,908,626 5/1933 Ford 235-132 2,187,664 1/1940 Rogus 235-83 2,323,373 7/1943 Bugg 23S-612 2,406,726 8/1946 Weimont 23S-132 2,461,130 2-/1949 Szaj 23S-123 2,546,585 3/1951 Caldwell 74-128 3,188,246 6/1965 Slinker 74-128 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner. 

